Uber Gets Boycotted by Plus-Size Model After Fat-Shaming Incident

iAmerican plus-size model Tess Holliday has pledged to boycott Uber.

Plus sized model Tess Holliday calls out Uber after a driver fat shamed her. She posted part of the exchange as an Instagram story.

Tess Holliday is putting her money where her mouth is. The American plus-size model has pledged to boycott Uber after a driver fat shamed her on Wednesday. Part of the exchange between Holliday and the driver was recorded and shared with her 1.4 million fans on Instagram.

Holliday posted the clip with the words “My driver who is fat is questioning if I’m healthy” written across the screen. In the video, you can hear the man — whose face isn’t shown — enquire about Holliday’s cholesterol. We’re just going to take a wild guess here and say this man does not have a five-star Uber rating.

“My cholesterol is fine. I’m perfect,” Holliday responds. “I’m healthy.” She was obviously not happy that a service she pays for is employing drivers that shame customers.

“Hey Uber I don’t pay more to use your ‘black car’ service to be told that there’s no way I could possibly be healthy because I’m fat,” she wrote in the Instagram caption. “No one should have to tolerate this at any level of the services you offer. I’m fat. I also have a fat wallet and will no longer be using your services. Ever.” And THAT’S what you call a clap back.

Twitter users questioned whether the so-called “fat shaming” was more of a misunderstanding, since the clip shows only a small part of the conversation. Holliday’s response: “To everyone that keeps saying ‘well we don’t know the full conversation,’ I say REALLY?! He wasn’t ‘curious,’ he was shaming me. End of story.”

Many of her followers were quick to call out the fact that Holliday had a baby less than a year ago. Regardless of that fact, it is never OK to question someone’s health and shame them for their size. This is a message that Holliday — who is a leader in the body-positivity movement — actively spreads to her passionate followers.

A spokesperson from Uber released a response regarding the incident to The Independent. “We expect all riders and drivers to treat each other with respect as laid out in our Community Guidelines.” Considering bullying can crush confidence and isolate people, we hope Uber takes this incident seriously.

About the Author

Rosy Cordero is an entertainment and lifestyle writer based in Los Angeles, California. She has nearly ten years covering celebrities and has been published in Variety Magazine, Latina Magazine, Variety Latino, Vice, Teen Vogue and NBC. When Rosy is not busy working the red carpet, she's hot on the trail of her next exclusive.